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Maui%20County
The Maui 10
Who’s the county’s most powerful player?

by By Anthony Pignataro

April 12, 2007

RANK   PREVIOUS   COMPANY



  

1             

1           

Maui Land & Pineapple Co.

   2             

2           

Dowling Co.

  

3             

3           

Alexander & Baldwin

  

4             

4           

Weinberg Foundation

  

5             

5           

Tesoro Hawai`i

  

6             

9            Hawaiian Telcom



  

7             

6           

Goodfellow Brothers

   8             

7           

Maui Electric Co.

  

9             

8           

Monsanto Hawai`i

  10          

10           

Wailuku Water Co.









WE CAN HEAR YOU NOW





Hawaiian Telcom—which is owned by the immensely wealthy and

influential Carlyle Group—moves up more than a couple notches this week

on news that it’s finally getting its act together. They’ve got a new

Chief Financial Officer—Paul Sunu—who has tons of telecommunications

experience. What’s more, they just announced that they lost less money

in 2006 than in 2005: $144.6 million in 2006 versus $159.6 million the

year before. And the company recently announced that they’re going to

hold off starting web-based television service until “we could ensure a

reliable customer experience,” said HT CEO Michael Ruley in the Apr. 3

Honolulu Advertiser. Let the good times roll!





PERSONAL CALL



On Aug. 31, 2006, I cancelled my Hawaiian Telcom phone service.

Because of the timing of my cancellation–due to my moving, not the

actual service, which was never a problem–HT owed me $28.15. I found

this out in late January when the company sent me what eerily resembled

a bill—complete with return envelope—except written next to the phrase

“Total Amount Due” was “$28.15 CR.” The “CR” of course stood for

“Credit,” which the HT customer service rep confirmed to me when I

called the next day. Though she said HT would be paying me the $28.15

very soon, nothing much happened until late February, when I got

another fake bill for $28.15 CR. Ignoring that, I got another fake bill

in late March, again for the same amount, which was tagged as a credit.

But then, on Apr. 3, I opened my mailbox and found an actual legal

check from Hawaiian Telcom in the amount of $28.15. In other words, it

took Hawaiian Telcom—a company owned by a private equity firm worth

billions of dollars—seven months to pay me $28.15, yet they would have

come down on me with both feet if I had withheld a similar check from

them for a tenth of that time. That may not be fair, just or equitable,

but it is powerful. MTW